Manhattan Institute policy analyst Charles Hughes joins the show, to talk about New York State’s new e-cigarette ban.

In this episode, research fellow Jesse Hathaway is joined by Manhattan Institute policy analyst Charles Hughes, to talk about New York State’s new ban on using e-cigarettes in all public indoor places throughout the state.

Treating tobacco and e-cigarettes as the same thing will discourage people from switching from harmful tobacco to less harmful alternatives, Hughes says, keeping smoking rates high and allowing smoking’s side effects to harm more people.

Replacing tobacco cigarette use with e-cigarette use would lead to fewer 1.6 million premature deaths, Hughes says, working out to about 20.8 million years of life people could otherwise enjoy.

Lawmakers should not treat e-cigarettes as equivalent to tobacco, Hughes says, because they are a less harmful substitute for tobacco. Many peer-reviewed studies have shown e-cigarettes may facilitate smokers’ attempts to quit smoking, Hughes says. If a significant number of smokers traded cigarette use for e-cigarettes, vaping could deliver immense health benefits in the coming years, but e-cig bans could make it more difficult for that possibility to become a reality.